Final NDAA Includes Funding for CHIPS Act Tech Hubs

The final version of this year’s National Defense Authorization Act includes up to $500 million in additional funding for the Commerce Department’s Regional Tech Hubs program using proceeds from a future spectrum auction. The provision was advocated for by Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA), chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, who was an architect of the CHIPS and Science Act and its Tech Hubs program. Though the act authorized $12.9 billion for the hubs over five years, Congress has only appropriated a small fraction of that amount so far.

The NDAA will channel funding from an auction of the AWS-3 spectrum band by the Federal Communications Commission. Cantwell has previously proposed using spectrum auctions to generate funds for a broader range of programs authorized by the CHIPS and Science Act, including billions of dollars for the National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

The NDAA is one of the last major pieces of legislation that Congress is expected to pass this year. The House approved the bill last week with a 281-140 vote, and the Senate is due to vote on the bill this week.

This news brief originally appeared in FYI’s newsletter for the week of Dec. 16.